As many may already know or not know, the Native Americans are fighting for their land and their livelihood yet again. This fight started in July 2014 when The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) went public with their plans to build a pipeline that would directly affect the drinking water and historical artifacts of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in North Dakota. Transfer Energy Partners will be building a pipeline that will go under the Missouri river in North Dakota and stretch all the way to Illinois. This may be common knowledge to some but I am finding that not everyone is informed of what is actually going on at the reservations.

It is funny that when the media wants people to know something they blast it everywhere the eye can see. But when the government wants to keep the people blinded they will do everything they can to keep it quiet. Controversy surrounding this whole pipeline is the fact that many reporters have been arrested and thrown in jail for merely reporting what has been going on. Amy Goodman, host of DemocracyNow, was on trial for “criminal trespassing” and facing a possible 45 years in prison. She recorded a video of security pepper spraying non-violent people while also releasing dogs on women and children. Her video went viral and she was arrested a few days later. Drones used for reporting and recording the treatment of the protestors and Native Americans have been shot down out of the sky. The question remains, What is the government trying to hide? Are they trying to hide the mistreatment of Native Americans yet again?

I recognize that this issue has not been emphasized or pushed to every corner of the Internet. It makes it hard for people to get behind something that they don’t see or understand fully. That is why I am writing this, I believe everyone in America needs to know what is going on in North Dakota. Native Americans have been massacred, enslaved, removed from their land, and overpowered since the 1600s. It is time we all stand up and say we will not allow this to happen again. I remember when I was in school and I learned about the countless wars between settlers and Native Americans. It was hard to hear how gruesomely the settlers killed and took advantage of Native Americans. I always thought that if I were there I wouldn’t let it happen, I would do something. Here we are centuries later and the same exact incident is happening and being treated in the same way. I will not sit by and watch it take place and if you consider yourself an American you should not allow this to happen either. America has always been a country founded on democracy and “we the people”. Our fellow Americans, the Native Americans, are being mistreated and as a nation we need to stand up.

To give a bit of context the DAPL went public with their plans in 2014 but movement on the subject did not start until spring of 2016. In spring of 2016 Native Americans from all over America and other non Native Americans came to Standing Rock to protest. Even though they are protesting they do not call themselves protesters, they call themselves water protectors. Water protectors have set up camps around the pipeline and spend most of their days having peaceful and prayerful protests. There have been reports of water protectors tying themselves to machinery and damaging equipment. However, people need to keep an open mind to understand the level of frustration and injustice the Native Americans have faced for generation and continue to face.

This has been their land for many generations and now yet again those in power have come in to hurt their people and take from them. People need to realize that where the pipeline is going in, is Native land. According to treaties the Natives have to give their consent. People saying that it is government land and Natives are trespassing are exact example of how thick racism is still ingrained in Americans. How can you tell someone who has lived on a property for centuries that they are trespassing? However, even though they have been peaceful they have been met with brutal militarized force. Water protectors have been shot with rubber bullets, strip searched, thrown in pee stained dog kennels, attacked by dogs released by DAPL security, pepper sprayed, sprayed with water in sub freezing temperatures, and shot with concussion grenades that almost completely severed a woman’s arm off. To make matters worse they have constant surveillance on the Native Americans and protestors at all times. Not only are the Natives being attacked physically but also psychologically with the constant surveillance. Many of the water protectors wear bandanas around their faces to cover their identity because if the security recognizes their faces they begin to pick them off one by one.

To really understand the level of injustice the Native Americans are facing it is necessary to look back at the history of how Native Americans have been treated. How they have been forced and tricked into giving up their land. Natives have signed treaties to give their land away in exchange for compensation that never arrived. From the start of settlers coming to America they have pushed the Native Americans West and taken as much land as they could from them by force and murder. For example during the California gold rush of 1848, which wasn’t that long ago, settlers killed and cheated Native Americans. Settlers made billions off of the gold, all from the Native American tribal grounds. They broke treaties and took advantage of the Natives just like they are today. It has been a common cycle of those in power to take and steal from Native Americans no matter what the cost, all in the name of business. There is peace between Natives and non-natives as long as the non-natives don’t need to make money or steal from the Natives.

Life became much more complicated in 1851 when the Indian appropriation act was passed creating reservations. In theory reservations seemed like a good idea because it was a space for Native Americans to carry out their traditions and culture. However, with time it proved to be the opposite. First the settlers tried to force the children to assimilate with white children and leave their culture behind. Many people may not realize that reservations have the poorest 1% of Americans. Living conditions on reservations have been compared to third world poverty. There are 90,000 homeless or underhoused Native American families, and that 30% of Native American housing is overcrowded and less than 50% of it is connected to a public sewer.” (March 8, 2004, Indian Country Today).

The reason why Native Americans face such poverty on reservations is because the Government owns their land and dictates everything they do. The government set up the reservations in this way basically hinting that tribes were not capable of owning or managing their lands. Even though tribes had owned and managed their land perfectly fine before the settlers came over. The real reason the government set the reservations up that way was so they could keep control of them and their money. The government wanted to “give” them their land while also being able to take and push them out if they needed something from it. Natives also face harsh poverty because they do not generally own their land or homes on reservations because everyone is entitled to every part of the land so no one person can own it over another. Because of this they cannot mortgage their assets for loans like other Americans. This makes it quite difficult to start a business on reservations. Even tribes with valuable natural resources remain trapped in poverty. Their resources amount to “dead capital”—unable to generate growth for tribal communities. Native Americans also have to go through over 40 or more steps to start business and it all has to go through the government. Starting the process of opening a business could take years for a Native American where non-Natives it could take days because they don’t have to wait for government approval.

So here we are, in the year of 2016 and it feels like we are back in the 1800s again. We are in the same position as we were hundreds of years ago with the same people group. Except this time I expected more out of the United States. This issue is way bigger than any pipeline. This is an opportunity to make things right and break a cycle that has been going on for far too long. Even though history has proven that people treat oil and money more valuable than human life. I was hoping that America would wake up and realize how familiar this situation is. As a nation we need to recognize that this issue is a part of our history that we need to finally change. We have spent our history trying to move beyond our shameful past, now is the time to make a difference and stand up for the Native Americans. In 2014 President Obama visited the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in Cannon ball, North Dakota. This was the first time since 1999 that a president has visited a reservation. While Obama was visiting he went over different changes that needed to be made to better the lives of Native Americans. The administration agreed to pay 3.4 billion to settle on a decades-long class-action lawsuit against the government for mismanaging native land-trust royalties. The payments, have been “delayed” due to people who are ineligible appealing. That is code for the government skimping out on their promises to Native Americans once again. When people and businesses are complaining that the protesting is wasting the 3.7 billion that went into the pipeline they can remember that the Native Americans still have not received their 3.4 billion. To be honest I would like to see what the Native Americans would do with the money. Whatever they would do I’m sure it would promote life and growth rather than contamination and oil spills like the DAPL promises.

The point of all of this is, every American should be behind the Native Americans in support. More people should be outraged by the way the government and law enforcement are treating the Natives. More people should be protesting and making noise. If the Native Americans are having their rights and land taken what will keep the government from taking from the rest of us. We need to fight and support our brothers and sisters because this fight has been going on for too long and it is time we as one nation, one America, end it.